All for the love of theatre

Five-day theatre festival begins at Sri Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam

Deva, Chairman, Tamil Nadu, Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram, speaking at the inaugural of Tamil Theatre festival in Madurai on Wednesday.

The love for theatre transcended all age groups as a packed audience attended the inauguration of a five-day theatre festival at Sri Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam on Wednesday.

Renowned music director Deva, the president of Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram, inaugurated the programme and spoke of his love for drama as an art form. He also congratulated script writers, theatre artistes and directors Crazy Mohan and Maadhu Balaji, the first playwrights to perform at the festival for their production “Meesai Aanalum Manaivi.”

The composer who has provided many hits in the Tamil film industry said that he began his musical journey through stage plays. “I was moulded by drama. I have played music for artistes such as Manorama on this stage before moving on to the big screen. It is humbling to be back here as a chief guest,” he said.

In an brief chat with

The Hindu , both Crazy Mohan and Deva stated that their creative process was similar. They worked alone. “Collaboration often meant that the other party would steal the idea. That is one bad thing about the industry,” Deva said. Crazy Mohan also said both the music director and the scriptwriter had to work together in order to avoid controversies created by puns and euphemisms. He recalled Deva saving him of one-too-many controversies through twisting words and engaging in musical wordplay. The Sri Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam, which is organising the five-day event in association with Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram, said that this is the fifth year since the inception of the theatre festival. They stated that at least 400 tickets were sold each day since there was high demand for entertainment in the city.

The festival began today and would go on till July 23.